Dusty Stacks
by Shealtiel
Summary: "Jasmine." Lief creased his brow. "You can't leave me hanging like that. If I'm wrong, please, tell me. I'm sorry if I've surprised you or embarrassed you or… the last thing I want is to ruin our friendship." Rated for mature themes. Oneshot.


Dusty Stacks  
by Shealtiel  
Rated: K+ for mature themes, kissing and very mild language.  
Summary: "Jasmine?" Lief creased his brow. "You can't leave me hanging like that. If I'm _wrong_, please, tell me. I'm sorry if I've surprised you or embarrassed you or… the last thing I want is to ruin our friendship, but please, if I'm misinterpreting you, you have to tell me."

**A/N: Hey. Wrote this in like, ten minutes last night. I know it's short, but I thought it was cute. Enjoy.**

**-|XXX|-**

It wasn't like she loved him or anything. Eww. Gross.

Except she was a _really_ bad liar. Factually, every time he walked within a hundred metres of her, her heart started beating faster, she'd sweat, her breathing would speed up. And this all before he'd said a word to her.

"Jasmine?"

"Hmm? What?" She turned to look at his grown up face. She couldn't remember when the change had occurred. She remembered the childish, round shape to his head, and then suddenly one day she looked and his jaw was more defined, he had some sort of stubble on his chin and his age old eyes fit into his face now.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she said, like it was stupid he was even asking. She rolled her eyes for good measure.

The truth was, she couldn't understand why he would ever, _ever_ want her. Sure, they'd had that whole 'the right girl, if she'll have me' conversation, but was she reading into it? Girls tend to read into things, she kept telling herself. Don't be a girl.

And he was a king. She had to remind herself of this too. He wasn't just Lief. He was a king. _The_ king. Of Deltora! And that was the catch. She couldn't be a queen. People stared when she walked past, whispered that she was a witch, or crazy. She was wild, always wanting to be free. She couldn't live holed up in a palace. Sure, Lief kept saying he'd be moving to the Blacksmith any day now, but it kept not happening.

So, he didn't love her, she couldn't be queen and she didn't love him in the first place either! So _why_ was she thinking about it! She was driving herself nuts.

"You can go if you want. You don't have to stay here while I do this. It's pretty damn boring." He smiled at her when she stared through him, and she was incapacitated for a moment.

"No, it's fine," she said, turning back to the book in front of her. "You said you need help and I need to get better at reading anyway. You're stuck with me."

He chuckled. "You say that like it's a bad thing." Her heart skipped a beat.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, laughing again. "Just… don't worry about it." He shook his head and went back to the volume of the _Annals_ he was reading, smiling still.

"Look," Jasmine finally burst out, after a few milliseconds of unbearable and very awkward silence. "I can't handle this anymore!"

He looked up, bewildered. "I just said you could go if you want Jasmine. I'm fine here on my own."

"Ugh!" she exclaimed. "That's _not_ what I'm talking about!"

"Oh," was all he said, fully understanding her now but not knowing how to respond.

"Oh? _That's_ all you have to say? Oh?" She threw her hands in the air. "This is crazy! I can't believe I ever thought… if you knew and you felt uncomfortable, why didn't you just _tell_ me? We're friends! We'll figure it out!" Her eyes were wild when she looked back at his face. For God's sake, he was nearly _smiling_. She frowned deeper.

"Jasmine."

She just stared him down.

"You're crazy." His smile grew.

She only looked grumpier, angrier as she crossed her arms. "I'm crazy, am I? I didn't know you felt so strongly about it… that way…" She looked away, clearly feeling a little vexed by an answer she wasn't expecting.

"Look, you're crazy because… because you can look at me, know everything about me and somehow – somehow! – still love me. You're crazy because we've been in this limbo state for barely a week and it's already driving you insane. And… and you're crazy for thinking that I could ever! – love anyone but you!" Jasmine continued to stare at him, trying to decipher the words that had just come out of his mouth. She'd heard wrong. She was dreaming or delusional or… she couldn't be hearing this. She couldn't be.

"Jasmine?" Lief creased his brow. "You can't leave me hanging like that. If I'm _wrong_, please, tell me. I'm sorry if I've surprised you or embarrassed you or… the last thing I want is to ruin our friendship, but please, if I'm misinterpreting you, you have to tell me, because I can't keep–"

She stopped him by practically jumping on him, her lips crashing against his, her body landing half in his lap while she struggled to hold herself in a position that would allow for the continuation of their first kiss. He was right. She was crazy. Crazy and wrong, blissfully, blissfully wrong. And she was loving every minute of it.

**-|XXX|-**

**A/N2: Hope you like it. Review if you feel like it. Feedback is always appreciated.**


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